Medical practitioners routinely use needleless access systems (hubs, valves, injection ports) to remove or introduce medications or other necessary fluids, such as saline solutions or parental nutrition, into a patient. A cannula or an intravenous (IV) catheter is inserted into the patient's body creating an administration route to the patient's vascular system. However, any exposed portion of the catheter including the access port is susceptible to contamination. In the event the access port is contaminated, harmful microbes or pathogens can be introduced into the patient's bloodstream. This not only places the patient in grave danger, but also increases the complexity and cost of treating the patient.
To reduce the chance of catheter related bloodstream infections (CR-BSIs) caused by contamination, health care practitioners (hospital, outpatient, home care, hospice, or other health care settings) have implemented sanitation techniques and procedures. All practitioners wash their hands, wear gloves, and sterilize the exposed portion and surface of the access port before injecting the patient. This is commonly achieved by a medical practitioner swabbing the top portion of the port with a pad presoaked with 70% isopropyl alcohol or other disinfectant such as Chloraprep®. For many reasons this method is undesirable; therefore, there have been many attempts to create a disinfecting system or apparatus including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,554,135; 5,792,120; 6,045,539; 7,682,561; and 7,931,877. However, all the listed attempts suffer from one or more disadvantages, including the consistency of cleaning procedure, ease of use and possible contamination from accidental impact.
Therefore, there is a need for a safety device that effectively protects and disinfects the access port that is user friendly and prevents unintended exposure thereby reducing the potential for patient infection.